tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36001820.post3265737826346218950..comments2023-10-20T08:52:24.875-07:00Comments on this artist's life:: take the timeWhitney Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00491079459627713472noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36001820.post-6949324109140027892012-06-15T12:49:59.797-07:002012-06-15T12:49:59.797-07:00enjoy the moment.....smilesenjoy the moment.....smilesAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03453429612511514721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36001820.post-41886770488677348452012-06-14T09:15:44.643-07:002012-06-14T09:15:44.643-07:00I agree sometimes its the little things that you a...I agree sometimes its the little things that you absorb from another culture that spring out of your work in unexpected ways. I always think travel broadens the mind!Quietly Otakuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16163867249259070785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36001820.post-302267874305983812012-06-14T07:32:50.543-07:002012-06-14T07:32:50.543-07:00take your time, it's all grist for the mill. ...take your time, it's all grist for the mill. Your post is making me miss not being in Europe right now. We used to spend our late summers in Belgium when my husband worked there. The first thing I always noticed when I got back to the states was how loud everyone is and how the television was screaming the news at me. thanks for sharing your adventure with us.<br />~K.k.somervillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09443560669327285311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36001820.post-73121359374444948602012-06-14T00:13:30.083-07:002012-06-14T00:13:30.083-07:00Hi Carter, thanks for the comment, and for complet...Hi Carter, thanks for the comment, and for completely giving me a rational basis for not working while I am here! :) I definitely hear what you are saying about if I forced it, I may just find myself in familiar territory, which is exactly what has happened with 99% of what I've made here. I'm okay with it, because I'm not pushing the production angle, just making some things so I can have SOMEthing in the gallery show. It's the 1% that I feel more deeply about, and we will see where it goes later.Whitney Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00491079459627713472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36001820.post-80513601506063035362012-06-13T06:17:41.993-07:002012-06-13T06:17:41.993-07:00Hey Whitney,
This sounds like a wonderful experie...Hey Whitney,<br /><br />This sounds like a wonderful experience, and I have no doubt that it will eventually pay off in the studio as well.<br /><br />Sometimes the most important creative project we can have is working on our own self. Sometimes the greatest change we can make is changing our attitudes, our beliefs about which things matter, and our ability to see things differently. Just soaking in a new culture can give us that change. Every time we experience something new, digest it, and then manifest it in some way in our lives we are evolving. Being open to new experiences is sometimes the most important thing we can do. How else do we get from childhood to being an adult? The other option is to close ourselves off, settle for what we have, and refuse to change.... Sometimes we decide to keep things the same, but is there really ever a right moment to stop evolving?<br /><br />So it sounds like you HAVE been working. Living in a different culture is hard work when we let it affect us. There is so much to absorb, so much to make sense of. And all this work we do simply gestates for as long as it takes, and then it arrives in our art like a gift from the gods. You may not think you are doing a lot of work, not being in the studio so much, but you are preparing the groundwork. You are laying the foundation for great things to happen. That is, if you are willing to take advantage of all these new things you are learning. Everything you have seen, touched, and tasted is a part of the new you.<br /><br />It may even have been important not to have done much clay work. Doing something familiar encourages us to find the comfort zone, to rely on habits and deeply ingrained preferences. If you had just stayed in the studio you may have come away from this trip with nothing but the same pots you've been making all along. And no new experiences. So its probably a GOOD thing that you avoided it. Think of all the new experience you did get to have by immersing yourself in something different. You had just this one chance to explore these mysteries and you took it. You did the right thing, I think!<br /><br />And as all these potential influences work their way around your thoughts and feelings you may find that you are now so different that its a struggle to go back to being who you were. In some respects you are much the same. But you HAVE been changed, and its up to you how fully you will let this be expressed in your studio. When you are ready. Your experience has been an education. It can't help but be transformative. Just what will you decide to make when the time comes? Can you ignore the new things you have learned? Do you want to? Are you finished exploring these new mysteries?<br /><br />Good luck! I'm glad you are having fun!carter gillieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12744265678233135968noreply@blogger.com